You know what you did? You just sent miniq over the edge. I can see him pacing back and forth in his mama's basement, wearing only streaked tightly whitey underwear, tears welling in his eyes, rage speaking through clinched teeth, fists in a ball, saying "These mother F'ers, don't know **** about boxing. If they only loved Fury half as much as me. They would see. They would see." LOL
Norton won the belt against #2 Jimmy Young. In his last two fights Jimmy beat Ron Lyle (#5 '76 and #4 '77) and George Foreman (#1 ranked contender in '76, leading into their march bout.) Lyle was ranked in the top ten since 1972, all the way to 1978. Foreman since 1970 including title reign (granted, it was Clancy Foreman in the microwave of San Juan) up to 1977. Not to mention Norton got the belt because Ali refused to face him again after the early Christmas gift at Yankee, and would very likely drop a lopsided decision, all due respect (as the man gave everything to the sport.) The likes of Young, Norton, and as the world was soon to see Holmes, were the top dogs for that brief period.
Norton lost to lower level guys too but he beat Ali and gave Holmes fits while being old. I'm not sure who rates higher. Norton could very well get bombed out by AJ.
He didn't. The Young fight was the final eliminator. Because Leon Spinks decided not to fight Norton and give Ali the rematch instead, he was then elevated to the title holder status. So Norton is the only heavyweight title holder in the history of the division that never won a title fight.
If Norton gave both Ali and Holmes massive issues what makes you think it would be any different with Usyk, the first few rounds would go to Norton while Oleksandr figured out his weak points and made adjustments then the second half he'd take over, I still have him as favourite but unless you're knocking out Kenny he's a handful for anyone
Nobody officially beat Ali twice but Norton has a very reasonable claim to have. Plus he broke Ali's jaw, when nobody else ever really put a dint in him.
It was for the NABF lineage though Young got stripped of the NABF right away I think. Regardless Norton was awarded the WBC belt after winning the fight. Making it a title fight. If someone is awarded a belt you can assume the previous fight they had was the basis for this. It was also 15 rounds. During the 70s the NABF was the 2nd HW most important HW belt because the world title was otherwise unified after FOTC. The quality of the NABF matchups during this time were clearly title worthy and were more consistantly on that level then afterwards. They'll win a comparison with most alphabet belts including AJs. Foreman-Ali-Norton-Ali-Norton-Foreman-Young-Norton. Hard to beat that.
Stop using flowery language like "reigning champion" as if Martin had a reign of any sort Now go on and explain to the forum how Charles Martin and fatty Ruiz got the belts in the first place
Norton’s style worked well on outboxers like Ali and Holmes, who didn’t have big left hooks to hit him. Usyk’s a southpaw with angles they never had his left slips through Norton’s defense all day. Norton was good against orthodox boxers but he’s never fought a southpaw as Usyk and there's no proof he’d be able to adjust to that.
Was meant to add retroactively. Young fight was as good as a championship fight, given how Ali flat out refused and was in no shape to face Norton.